SCHOOLS ACTIVITY

Get your School playing Rugby League!

There are multiple opportunities for your school to play rugby league depending on their age and experience. These include Tag competitions for Years 5, 6 & 7, Nines Competitions for Emerging Schools, and the National Champion Schools Competition for more experienced schools.

If you are interested in your school taking part, please contact us today!

London Youth Games - Tag Rugby - Years 5&6 and Year 7

The London Youth Games provides competitive sporting opportunities to over 100,000 young people across 32 boroughs across London every year.

In 2026 the London Youth Games will include schools tag rugby league competitions for Year 5&6 (Mixed Girls & Boys) and Year 7 (separate Girls and Boys competitions). These competitions are supported by the RFL, the London Rugby League Foundation and Try Tag Rugby.

The Finals event will be held at Gunnersbury Park in June, with many boroughs holding qualifying competitions before then, in order to select the school to represent the borough at the Finals.

If you would like your school to take part please contact the London Youth Games, or email us at londonrugbyleaguefoundationorg@gmail.com.

InspiredBy 9s for Emerging Schools

The InspiredBy 9s is a 9 a side rugby league competition for Emerging Schools at Year 7 Girls, Year 7 Boys, Year 8 Girls and Year 8 Boys. 

This competition is aimed at schools that don't play regularly weekly rugby matches, but would like to play some more competitive rugby. In London and the South-East there are competitions for the following:

In 2026 there will be local qualifying competitions between March and June, with Finals Days in June.

In 2025, congratulations to all the schools that made it through to the Finals, and especially to the Year 8 Girls winners, Oscar Romero, and the Year 8 Boys winners, Dorothy Stringer.

Year 8 Girls Finals Competition

Winners - Oscar Romero A, Worthing

Runners-Up - Oscar Romero B, Worthing

3rd & 4th - Ridgeway, Worcestershire

3rd & 4th - Woodfield Academy, Worcestershire

Year 8 Boys Finals Competition

Winners - Dorothy Stringer, Brighton

Runners-Up - Cleve School, Gloucestershire

3rd Place - Kingsdale, Dulwich

4th Place - Ridgeway, Worcestershire 

5th Place - Birchensale, Worcestershire

If you would like to take part next year, please email Steve Guan at the RFL at Stephen.Guan@rfl.co.uk, or email us at londonrugbyleaguefoundationorg@gmail.com.

National Champion Schools

The National Champions Schools is the flagship schools rugby league competition in the UK, with hundreds of schools across the country taking part across U12s, U13s, U14s, U15s and U16s. The competition is aimed at schools who play regular rugby matches, but is still a great opportunity for more competitive action.

Congratulations to the schools from Year 7 to Year 11 who have reached the Finals of the London & South-East stage of the National Champion Schools Competition for 2025/26.

Nearly 1500 players from nearly 50 schools across the region took part in regional qualifying competitions in order to progress to the London Festivals, where the best half dozen teams from each age group competed for a place in the London Finals. The London Festivals all took place at St James' Boys School in Ashford, West London, over the last few weeks, and saw some great rugby league being played, and some fantastic rugby league talent on display.

St James' Boys were the most successful school so far, reaching the Final of both the Year 11 and Year 10 competitions, following on from their strong showing in the National Knock-Out rounds of these competitions last year, while South London teams reached four of the five finals. However, nine different schools reached the London Finals overall across the age groups, showing the breadth and depth of the competition across the region.

The following schools make up the Finals, which will be played in January at Chiswick RFC, home of London Broncos Women in 2025:

Year 7 - John Fisher (South London) vs Kings (Sussex) - 15th Jan, 12pm

Year 8 - Teddington School (Richmond) vs Langley Park (South London) - 29th Jan, 11am

Year 9 - Dorothy Stringer (Sussex) vs Kingsdale (South London) - 29th Jan, 12.30pm

Year 10 - St James Boys (Spelthorne) vs Graveney (South London) - 29th Jan, 2pm

Year 11 - St James Boys (Spelthorne) vs Turing House (Richmond) - 15th Jan, 1.30pm

The winners of these matches will proceed to the Round of 16 in the National Champion Schools Competition, and given the strength of the South-East schools we look forward to them providing strong competition to the schools from the heartlands. Langley Park progressed to the National Quarter-Final in the Year 7 competition last year, only losing to the eventual winners from St Helens, while St James Boys and Dorothy Stringer lost tight matches in Cumbria and Hull, and Hemel Hemptead School lost to a school from Warrington.

As usual, the Year 7 National Final will take place at Wembley Stadium before the Challenge Cup Final on 30th May, while the Year 8, 9 & 10 Finals will be the week of 29th June and the Year 11 Final will be on Wednesday 22nd April.

If you would like to take part in the Competition next year, please email Steve Guan at the RFL at Stephen.Guan@rfl.co.uk, or email us at londonrugbyleaguefoundationorg@gmail.com.

Direct Rugby Coaching in Schools

The Foundation supports some direct coaching in schools, and some local rugby league competitions, where possible.

Notably, the Foundation has recently been awarded a significant grant by Sport England, to provide Rugby League Coaching to schools and students in Walworth, in inner city London.

Elsehwere the Foundation supports Community Clubs in the delivery of Schools sessions in several Boroughs including schools in Croydon, Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth.

If you would like the Foundation to help with rugby league coaching at your school please email us at londonrugbyleaguefoundationorg@gmail.com.